Glenn Greenwald: Obama administration threatens Britain to keep torture evidence concealed

[Fumesucker]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/12/obama/

Ever since he was released from Guantanamo in February after six years of due-process-less detention and brutal torture, Binyam Mohamed has been attempting to obtain justice for what was done to him. But his torturers have been continuously protected, and Mohamed's quest for a day in court repeatedly thwarted, by one individual: Barack Obama. Today, there is new and graphic evidence of just how far the Obama administration is going to prevent evidence of the Bush administration's torture program from becoming public.

<...>

The Washington Times' Eli Lake reported this morning that "the Obama administration it may curtail Anglo-American intelligence sharing if the British High Court discloses new details of the treatment of a former Guantanamo detainee." Last month, when I interviewed Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, he made clear just how grave of an act -- a crime -- such threats are, but nonetheless expressed hope that the Obama administration would repudiate those threats:

<...>

The principal issue here is that the Obama administration is not merely failing to investigate (let alone prosecute) acts of high-level criminality by U.S. government officials. Far worse, ever since he was inaugurated, Obama has engaged in one extraordinary legal maneuver after the next to block American courts from ruling on the legality of those actions. He has now extended his Bush-protecting conduct to the international realm, as he re-iterates Bush's threats that we will purposely leave British citizens more vulnerable to terrorist attacks if their courts rule that, under their laws, their citizens are entitled to know what was done to Binyam Mohamed.

<snip>

More at the link...

[LiberalFighter]

1. Washington Times?

[Bolo Boffin]

2. Salon.com n/t

[truebrit71]

3. Salon.com....

..:shrug:

[sabra]

6. he does make a reference to Wash Times report - but both Greenwald and WT

refer to a UK document that is linked @ Salon

[Fumesucker]

7. Here is one of the docs..

Greenwald's comment?

""I believe their error was in conceiving of the United States as a country "governed by the rule of law.""

[Fumesucker]

8. And another doc..

[Metta]

4. Obama's manifesting the New American Century with only slightly less gusto than Bush.

Obviously the war, Treasurey, Justice, gun laws, the militarization of our police, Don't Act ..., food safety, worker safety and rights ....


Happy karma, Obama administration. You know how it goes.

[Fumesucker]

5. We all know Obama is a centrist..

And these are centrist positions that he's taking.

[aquart]

9. Center of torture? I don't but it's okay if you did?

[Fumesucker]

12. Centrism is good..

To allow Britain to expose our torture techniques would be a purist, far left position..

Far left purists should be excluded from our political discussions since they have nothing to contribute, eh?

/channeling centrists

[Metta]

11. I appreciate your even handedness. This stuff is much to right for me.

:hi:

[Fumesucker]

14. Eh, I despise purists..

:hi: back atcha..

[Metta]

15. Hey,now.

:hi:

[jemma]

10. That pretty much clinches it

Obama is the new Bush.

[Fumesucker]

13. Hope...

Change we can believe in..

There has to be a pony under here somewhere.

[jemma]

16. It's human nature to be hopeful

Hope is good. Delusion is bad. It's a fine line I guess.

[Fumesucker]

17. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Sometimes hope becomes too painful, that's about where I am right now.

Edited to add: We have an awful lot of Mr Micawbers here it seems sometimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkins_Micawber

[jemma]

38. Well, unfortunately

The kinds of leaders we've had the past few decades make hope into a weakness to exploit.

And thanks for explaining the Mr Micawbers reference. I had no idea who that was.

[ProgressIn2008]

25. In some ways, worse: the empire lurches on while opposition folds and talks about his puppy. nt

[EFerrari]

18. Maybe I'm just oppositional as hell, lol but I disagree with Glenn this time.

The Obama administration hasn't failed to investigate anyone yet.

And I don't see the legal maneuvering as Bush-protecting but rather as protecting the administration's ability to manage the flow of information which may be crucial to mounting an investigation. That may be wrong but that's what it looks like to me so far.

[Fumesucker]

19. Time will tell..

We shall see what we shall see.

[ProSense]

29. Yeah, this doesn't make any sense.

Obama is releasing all kinds of damning information, but he's trying to stop Britain from doing the same?

Conservatives Outraged Over Release Of Torture Photos, But Not Over Actual Torture

[EFerrari]

40. Don't agree with me. People will talk.

lol

:)

[Fumesucker]

20. Apparently this is something that not many people want to talk about..

I'm not surprised, it is awfully depressing, isn't it?

[seaglass]

27. Most of the people who care have either left DU or have been removed.

:-(

[Fumesucker]

30. Eh, the cheeleaders are rampant..

There are times when I just feel like climbing in bed, pulling the covers over my head, hugging my dogs and just sleep forever.

Unfortunately I'm an insomniac. :evilfrown:

[BeHereNow]

21. Dr. David Kelly and his "suicide."

Again, how soon we forget.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)
BHN

[BeHereNow]

22. God how I miss John Horne's posts on DU these days.

And dear Scarletwoman.
Anyone know what happened to John?
If you are not familiar with him, you REALLY need to
scour his posts from the early DU days.
BHN

[BeHereNow]

23. John's old website-

http://elitewatch.911review.org/

Again, I hope he was not BFEE'd.

John, if you're out there, please check in.
You are one of the greatest losses and assets DU ever had.
I still think of you.

BHN

[Fumesucker]

24. Kick for the evening krewe..

:kick:

[Old Hank]

26. The US does not want the world to know what happened to Mohammed's penis

NY Times reported in February:

The court papers describe horrific treatment in secret prisons. Mr. Mohamed claimed that during his detention in Morocco, “he was routinely beaten, suffering broken bones and, on occasion, loss of consciousness. His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis. A hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/10torture.html

[Fumesucker]

28. Thanks for that..

But as you can see, even here on DU this topic is nearly radioactive ebola, quite a few recs and very few posts in proportion.

[alarimer]

31. I have pretty much had enough of this.

This is not the change that was promised.

[ProSense]

32. Anyone wants to wade through

the comments in this D-Kos diary will find some answers and more perspective.

[Luminous Animal]

34. I've read through most of that thread throughout the day...

I don't buy the excuses. The Obama admin has tried to block every legal recourse for the tortured to seek redress.

Meanwhile, the pro-torture PR machine is in overdrive. In terms of our national dialog, it is being overwhelming presented and accepted by the corporate media as either downright necessary and acceptable policy or as a necessary evil. The public's support for torture is climbing and now hangs at 50% due to the normalization of "enhanced interrogation techniques". Meanwhile, our Democratic "leaders" niggle about waterboarding in order to bury discussion about the full breadth of the torture techniques that we used.

This is fucking unacceptable. People who were tortured deserve redress.

[Fumesucker]

35. If you read through Greenwald's own letters forum for this post..

You'll find a great deal of apologia and also find that most of it gets shot down very quickly and with little fanfare.

[ProSense]

37. Yeah, it's not

like these posts have never been deemed unfounded before, having jumped the gun on procedural matters.

As far as "apologia," Greenwald has his own:

UPDATE: In cases like this, there is frequently a demand that speculation be put forth as to motives, i.e., why would the Obama administration do something like this? I prefer to avoid such questions precisely because they rely on speculation and, independently, ultimately don't matter much. Political leaders should be judged on their actual words and actions, not the secret motives that one can invent and then attribute to them to make their actions seem either more benign or more malevolent.

[Luminous Animal]

39. Really? Which ones?

Which posts regarding the Obama admin blocking torture lawsuits have jumped the gun on procedural matters?

[pleah]

33. K&R

[hyphenate]

36. Why am I not surprised? eom